Cardenas too tall, too good for foe from Victoria

At 6-feet-2, Armando Cardenas typically towers over his opponents. So it's only fitting that the San Antonio welterweight wears a David Robinson Spurs jersey into the ring for his fights.

Friday, Cardenas did justice to his favorite player, using a huge height and reach advantage to stop Anibel Resendez of Victoria in front of 1,630 fans at the San Antonio Event Center.

At just 5-5, Resendez bothered Cardenas early on, staying low and not providing his taller opponent a solid target.

"He was hard to catch," Cardenas (8-1, 4 KOs) said. "I had a hard time cutting off the ring on him."Cardenas finally wore down his opponent and caught him with a combination just as the final bell of their four-round fight sounded.

Referee Ellis Johnson counted Resendez out.

"The bell rang. The fight was over," Resendez (3-6, 1 KO) said. "I don't know why he continued to count."

Resendez said he thinks he would have won a decision, but he was behind on two of the scorecards at the time of the stoppage.

It took Cardenas a while to figure out the smaller Resendez, who came out strong, beating his taller opponent to the punch.

But in the second round, Johnson took a point away from Resendez for holding. That seemed to be the beginning of the end.

"That was part of my game plan, to hold him when I could," Resendez said. "I had to do something. He was so much taller than me."

It was the first fight for Cardenas since August when he was knocked out by fellow San Antonian Steven Hall at the Event Center in a slugfest.

"I didn't feel defeated," Cardenas said. "(Hall) was better that night. I just got back in the gym and tried to get better."

New Mexico, by unanimous decision in a six-round bantamweight bout.Austin middleweight Kenton Sippio-Cook (7-3, 5 KOs) beat Eddie Tigs (3-6-3) of San Antonio by TKO at 1:38 of the second round.

Other local winners included Tyrell Herndon, and Gibran Ruiz. Jose Elizondo of San Antonio won his pro debut.

Most of the buzz for the card was generated at Thursday's weigh-in, where San Antonio lightweight Ivan Najera, scheduled to fight in the main event, shocked observers by tipping the scales at 143.6 pounds.

That was an astonishing 8.6 pounds over the contracted weight limit. The fight against Justo Vallecillo of San Antonio was scrapped.